


Reach for the Stars, Catch the Spotlight

by keyofdestiny, Night_StormCaptain



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Cloud & Ven & Roxas & Sora are all brothers, Kairi and Namine are sisters, Multi, Ven and Roxas are twins, also Vanitas is their cousin, also we were very self-indulgent with naming the parents, and okay we might be having a little too much fun with this, because listen they had to come from somewhere, but he gets to be a Shimizu in this, listen I know Cloud has a canonical last name, their last name is shimizu, they're all disasters, we gave everyone last names and parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-06 05:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18382088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keyofdestiny/pseuds/keyofdestiny, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_StormCaptain/pseuds/Night_StormCaptain
Summary: At Twilight High School, a new school year means new friends, new relationships, new disasters, and most importantly, a new musical!  This year, with funding low and a chance of the theatre program being completely cut, the stakes have never been higher for the stars of the school to perform their absolute best in spite of numerous setbacks.  All is not as it seems behind the scenes, and if more is at stake than just the theatre program... well, a little more subterfuge and sabotage won't make that much difference, right?[Currently on hiatus! Will be back when the prequel fics are completed!]





	1. Cast List

Cloud held a piece of paper high above his head, out of reach of the three high school boys crowding in at his sides, desperate for a look.  Actually, from what he could tell, everyone who had auditioned for Twilight High’s production of  _ Beauty and the Beast  _ was waiting for him to put up the cast list, though only his younger brothers Ventus, Roxas, and Sora dared crowd him.

“Calm down, you three,” Cloud scolded, effortlessly holding the cast list out of reach as Sora leaped for it, snatching desperately at thin air.  “I can’t post it if you’re crowding me.”

“You heard him, back off!”  Roxas pulled his brothers back as if he himself hadn’t just been hounding their oldest brother just as rabidly.

“ _ Thank  _ you.”  Now that he had a little more personal space, Cloud was able to tape the cast list to the drama room door, then flee back inside before all hell could break loose.

“I regret everything in my entire life,” Roxas groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m  _ Lefou _ .  I get to kiss Gaston’s ass the whole time.”

Ven elbowed him playfully.  “Sounds perfect!” he exclaimed, knowing full well it wasn’t.  “Am I…” He scanned the list. “Hey, Sora, you made Lumiere! And it looks like I’m playing Chip!”

“You’re playing a  _ cup _ ,” Roxas deadpanned.

“Yep!” Ven agreed, completely unfazed.

“Who are the leads?”  The boys’ cousin Vanitas elbowed his way through the crowd, deliberately stepping on a few toes.  “Please tell me…  _ god,  _ Aqua’s the leading lady  _ again. _ ”  He scanned the list.  “What the hell? Not even a minor lead like Cogsworth or someone?”

“Guess Leon didn’t want to deal with your attitude,” Roxas sniped.

“You shut it,” Vanitas growled.

“I could kick your ass, Vanitas.”

“Or you could  _ not  _ do that,” suggested a new voice as Lea pushed his way through the crowd, his voice carrying over the jabbering of other auditioners.  “Hey, did Isa make it in? I told him he could do it if he would just try for once.”

“And I told you I’d rather just be on the tech crew as usual,” Isa huffed, not bothering to follow his boyfriend through the crowd.

Lea peered at the list.  “Too bad! You got cast!”

Isa froze.  “What.”

“Yeah!”  Lea couldn’t restrain an enormous grin.  “You’re the creepy insane asylum dude!”

“What.”

“That means you get a  _ solo! _ ”

_ “What.” _

“Lea, you’re going to make your boyfriend have a panic attack before we even start rehearsals,” Roxas snarked.

“Besides, aren’t you going to brag for yourself?”  Ven poked Lea in the ribs, making him flinch.

“Brag for myself?  I didn’t even make the ensemble!”

To Lea’s annoyance, Ven  _ cackled.   _ “I think you need to take a closer look, Mr. Beast.”

“You’re hilarious.”  Lea took a closer look at the list, not really expecting much.  “Wait  _ what?” _

Isa finally managed to collect himself in order to laugh at his boyfriend.  “You idiot,” he declared fondly, taking Lea’s hand and dragging him away.

As some of the younger students began clearing out, Twilight High’s star seniors arrived.  “Aqua, I’ve been telling you, you don’t have anything to worry about,” Terra was insisting, though his best friend seemed jittery.

“How can you be  _ sure? _ ”  Aqua knew in some part of her mind that her audition had gone fine and she had nothing to worry about, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious over it.

“Hey guys!” Ven called, bounding over to greet his friends.  “You both did super good! Check out the list!”

Terra bolted to the door, with Aqua following more nervously.  His eyes flicked immediately to the top of the list, and he grinned.  “I told you so!”

“Let me see.”  Despite being more than a foot shorter than him, Aqua shoved Terra aside with little trouble.  As she scanned the list, a shaky breath of relief escaped her. “ _ Yes.” _

“I told you!” Terra repeated.  “And I’m playing Gaston! I’ve always wanted to try a villain role.”  While he would have loved to play the Beast, Lea definitely deserved that role.  He picked Aqua up and spun her around. “Just think, we get a really awful scene where I propose to you in the worst way possible!”

Aqua wrested one of her arms from his grip to boop him on the nose.  “Why do you sound so excited about that?”

Roxas nudged his twin brother.  “Looks like your parents are finally getting married.”

Ven doubled over laughing, and Terra’s face turned beet red as he hastily set Aqua on her feet and took a step away from her, making Ven laugh even harder.

“We’re not getting married!” Aqua insisted, taking a sudden intense interest in the floor tiles.  “And we’re not Ven’s parents!”

“And Cloud’s not marrying Leon this summer,” Roxas replied.  “You two are  _ obviously _ in love.”

“I should get going,” Aqua said abruptly.  “Class is starting soon, you know.” She fled down the hall, leaving Terra staring after her, thoroughly confused.

Sora glanced around.  “Where are Riku and the Hikaris?  They’ll definitely be wanting to see this.”

“You just want to see your girlfriend,” Ven accused.

Sora linked his hands behind his head.  “Maaaaybe.”

Before the conversation could progress farther, the first bell rang, making everyone jump.  “We should probably follow Aqua’s lead,” Terra commented, heading off down the hall.

“Guess Riku and the girls will have to wait,” Roxas said, starting to walk away, but Sora pulled out his phone.

“I’m gonna send them a picture!”  Sora declared, snapping a photo of the cast list to send to his girlfriend, her sister, and his best friend.

Cloud poked his head out of the classroom.  “Go to class!”

“We should be saying that to you, you’re a teacher!” Roxas shot back.

“I can make you run laps.”

“...alright, cool, see everyone later!”  With that, the three youngest Shimizus scattered to their first period classes.


	2. Techganization XIII

“Alright, everyone,” Ienzo started as he entered the classroom, drawing the attention of his classmates.  “Luxord’s late as always, so I’m going to get us started.”

“Aw, c’mon, Ienzo, can’t we just relax for once?” Demyx complained.

Ienzo raised one eyebrow at him.  “You mean the way you do all the time anyway?”

Before Demyx could make a snarky comeback, Naminé burst through the door, panting.  “Sorry I’m late guys, we took a detour for coffee and ended up running super late, have I missed anything important?”

Xion ran to greet her friend with a hug.  “You’re fine, you actually made it here before Luxord.  Again. Did you hear the cast list is up?”

Naminé shook her head, pulling out her phone.  “Is that what Sora was texting me about?”

“Probably.”  Xion giggled.  “Roxas won’t shut up about it.”

“I heard that!” Roxas complained from across the room.

“Good!” Xion shot back.

“There they go, being a couple again,” Demyx called out.

“Like you and Ienzo don’t do the same?” Lea replied, snickering as Ienzo’s face went beet red.  “I’m just spilling the tea.”

Despite his blush, Ienzo acted as if he hadn’t heard.  “ _ Anyway.   _ As you all know, rehearsals will be starting soon for the fall musical, which means we’ll need a stage crew.”

A chorus of groans filled the classroom.  “As much as I love crew, I hate when we actually have to choose who’s doing what.”  Larxene flicked her hair over her shoulder with an air of boredom.

Isa rolled his eyes.  “There she goes,” he deadpanned.

Marluxia picked up a foam-and-duct-tape sword from the prop rack.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Stop touching the props,” Vexen cut in.

Ienzo glanced at Vexen.  “...so we found our props master.”

“For the fifth show in a row!” Lea added, laughing.

“Hey, you have to deal with him more than we do, Mr. Beast,” Roxas replied with a grin.

“You say that as if you’re not in the cast yourself,” Lea pointed out.

“...fuck.”

Ienzo made another attempt to keep the discussion on track.  “Who all is even in the show? That’ll affect who’s on the crew and who just works on prep.”

Xion poked Roxas.  “Nice vocabulary.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled.

“I don’t see why we should have to listen to  _ you, _ ” Larxene sniped at Ienzo.

“Hey, leave him alone!” Demyx protested, reaching for a fake sword.

Marluxia grabbed his own sword.  “You wanna go?”

“I SAID DON’T TOUCH THE PROPS!”

It was at this exact moment that Luxord walked into the room.  He stared at his students for a few seconds, then turned and walked back out without being acknowledged by anyone besides Ienzo, who gestured helplessly at him.

Xion glanced at the door where Luxord had just left, then turned to Roxas and Naminé.  “Think that means nothing productive is happening today?”

“Probably,” Roxas agreed.

“What about the stage crew, though?” Naminé pointed out.

“Oh, right, this is your first year on crew,” Roxas remembered.  “It’ll be fine, Luxord will put up a sign-up sheet, Ienzo will be stage manager, Vexen will be props master, and all the other positions will get fought to the death over.  Like normal.”

“God, we don’t talk about the fight during Guys and Dolls.”  Xion shuddered.

“Guys and Dolls was a thing that happened?”  Roxas feigned incredulity.

“What was so bad about that show?”  Naminé tilted her head curiously.

“You don’t want to know,” Roxas and Xion assured her in unison, glancing at each other in surprise and laughing.

“Just kiss already!” Xigbar called across the room, causing some of the others to snicker.

Roxas and Xion hastily backed away from each other, while Naminé let out an annoyed huff.  “Come on guys, since nothing’s going on anyway, let’s go bother Leon or something.” She grabbed each of her friends by one arm and marched them out of the room and past Luxord, who was hitting his head against the wall nearby.

As they neared Leon’s office just a few doors down from the drama room, the three friends began to hear raised voices from inside.  Without having to say anything, they approached and pressed their ears against the door to hear what was being said.

“Leon, I’m sure there’s a way to reverse all of this.”  Cloud sighed. “They can’t just… drop the drama program.  It’s the  _ biggest  _ thing at this school.”

“Then tell me why this email is in my inbox,” Leon replied, pulling up his emails.  “Yen Sid sent it to me and Luxord. We’re gonna lose this whole program if we don’t get more funding.”

Silence for a moment as Cloud read the email.  “What the  _ fuck? _ ”

“Apparently one of our biggest sponsors decided to stop donating to the program,” Leon explained helplessly.  “This show has to be huge and it has to be perfect or we won’t be able to bring in enough funds to keep the program afloat.”

Cloud began to pace.  “What are you going to tell the students?”

Leon shrugged.  “I’m going to push them as much as I always do, but I’m not going to tell them.  At least not until after the show. They don’t need anything else stressing them out.”

Hearing that, Roxas, Naminé, and Xion shared a look.   _ Too late for that.   _ Roxas put a hand on the doorknob, but Xion snatched it away, staring wide-eyed at him and shaking her head.  They had a momentary battle of wills, but in the end, Roxas relented. The trio crept away from the office, stealing into the empty auditorium to talk in relative privacy.

“What the  _ fuck?” _ Roxas burst out as soon as the door shut behind them, sounding uncannily like his older brother.

“The theatre program here has been around since the school  _ opened _ , they can’t just take it away!” Xion exclaimed.

“Apparently they can!”  Roxas began to pace agitatedly.  “We’ve got to do something! We have to go to the principal and… and… something!”

“Great plan,” Xion applauded.  “Very well thought out.”

“Do you have any other ideas?!”

Naminé stepped between Roxas and Xion before they could get into a full-on shouting match.  “We need to think this through. For one thing, should we tell anyone about this? I mean, Leon said he didn’t want to mention it, but our siblings at least have the right to know, right?”

“Ven’s gonna go ballistic,” Roxas replied with a deep sigh.  “I think we should keep it to ourselves for now.”

Naminé nodded slowly.  “Yeah… yeah. You’re right.  If it happens, they’ll find out eventually, and if it doesn’t, that’s one less thing to worry about.”

“But let’s do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t,” Xion chimed in.  “At very least we can make this the best show anyone has ever seen! Well, okay, the best high school show, but you know what I mean.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Roxas agreed.  He stuck out a fist, and the girls each put a hand on top of it in a sort of mutual agreement.

“All for one, one for all!” Xion exclaimed.

Naminé giggled.  “You sound like Sora.”

“So?  He’s right about some things.”

The friends let their hands drop to their sides and left the auditorium to head back to class, united by a new energy and determination.  Twilight High’s theatre program would  _ not  _ fall — not on their watch!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Kermit memes" -original chapter title by Author Roxas
> 
> "God  
> Ima write a fic  
> This is gonna be a fic" -Author Aqua


	3. Chapter 3

One week later, once everyone had a chance to officially accept their roles, Leon held a cast and crew meeting after school.  The half-hour gap between the final bell and the start of the meeting gave the students time to make it from their classrooms to the drama room, plus plenty of time to horse around once they arrived.  Which is exactly what they were doing.

When Riku arrived at the drama room, several of his friends had already amassed.  Sora and Kairi were being lovey-dovey as usual, but Riku had learned that he could always interrupt their shenanigans and be welcomed.  Well, most of the time. He sat down on the edge of the stage, squeezing between them. “Hey, idiots.”

“Hey, Riku!” Sora replied, smiling at him.  “How was your last class?”

Riku let out a loud groan.  “Chemistry was  _ awful.   _ As usual.”

“Aw come on, it can’t be that bad, right?”  Kairi grinned, trying to prompt Riku to do the same, to no avail.

“Tell me how an entire chapter of homework  _ can’t be that bad, _ ” Riku deadpanned.

“You could call us while you do it, that would make it less boring, at the very least,” Sora replied.

“Yeah, right, and have to deal with your PDA,” Riku jabbed, elbowing Sora.

Sora flinched away, rubbing his side.  “Hey! I’ll get you for that!” He glanced around for anything he could use as a weapon, seizing a sword from the props rack while Vexen wasn’t looking.  “En garde, you... you… you lily-livered codfish!”

Riku grabbed a sword of his own.  “Have at you, knave!” The boys began to duel, sometimes following the principles of stage combat, sometimes just trying to whack each other, though neither was able to land a blow.

“They do realize that Vexen is gonna go apeshit on them, right?” Roxas asked, casually putting his arms around Xion’s waist.  “Like... he’s going to literally murder them after this meeting.”

Xion laughed and leaned her head on Roxas’s shoulder.  “Consider: they’re idiots.”

“Yeah, but Riku should know better, he’s been dealing with this for three years.”  Roxas shook his head. “One of these days Vexen is  _ actually  _ going to go sicko mode.”

“So, you two a couple yet?”  Kairi approached Roxas and Xion, her eyes on the dueling boys.  “My boyfriend and whatever Riku is are being idiots so I thought I’d come bother you.”

Xion laughed and ignored her question.  “You’re out of luck, then, because we’re just over here making fun of them.”

“Why does everyone think we're together, or going to get together?” Roxas huffed.  “We're just friends.”

Kairi gestured helplessly at them.  “I mean, you do kind of act like a couple.  Like, all the time.”

“PUT THOSE BACK!”  Kairi, Xion, and Roxas hastily darted out of the way as Vexen stormed over to Riku and Sora, pushing between him and snatching the prop swords out of their hands.  “What is everyone’s obsession with touching props that aren’t theirs? We haven’t even begun rehearsals and you actors are already giving me grief, and I swear if even  _ one thing  _ goes missing during the show, I will—”

“All right, listen up, fuckers!”  Vexen fell silent as Cloud swept into the room, fuming as he put away the swords Sora and Riku had been fighting with.  “It is 3:05, which means we need to get started! Which means put the swords away. And stop flirting. And get out of the curtains.”  At this, Marluxia detangled himself from the curtains off to one side of the stage with a deep, dramatic sigh. Moments later, Larxene emerged as well.

“Let’s play a game of Who Pissed Off My Brother This Time,” Roxas suggested with a grin.

Riku came over to sit by Roxas.  “My bet’s on Kage.”

“Hey!”  An eighth-grade boy who, aside from being younger and having longer hair, looked like a replica of Riku, crossed his arms and glared at his older brother from the drama room door.

“Oh hey,” Riku called.  “Cloud bring you over?”

“Mmhm.”  Kage skulked over to smack Riku, wary around his brother’s friends but feeling an intense need to commit an act of brotherly violence.

“Hey, it’s Riku two-point-oh,” Roxas teased.

Kage gritted his teeth and stared at the ground.  “Shut up.”

Meanwhile, onstage, Cloud was talking about the rehearsal schedule and attendance policy.  Though he actually taught drama at Twilight Junior High, Cloud had agreed to help out as Leon’s assistant director for the high school’s shows.  A few more latecomers trickled through the door as he tried to keep the room’s attention.

Aside from more rage on Vexen’s part and some shenanigans involving Ventus, Terra, and a very tarnished copper teapot, the meeting passed largely uneventfully, and soon the actors and techies were free to go their separate ways.

While Kage waited by the door with crossed arms, Riku approached Kairi.  “You and Naminé need a ride today?”

Kairi shook her head.  “We were thinking of walking home, actually, since the weather’s still nice, but it might not be for much longer.”

“Oh, okay.”  Riku tried not to sound too disappointed.  It wasn’t like getting home five minutes later would make that much difference anyway, but five minutes was still five minutes.

Kairi gave him a quick hug.  “See you tomorrow!”

Riku returned the hug, blushing slightly.  “See you then.”

“I’ll take a ride?”  Riku whirled and found Sora standing behind him.

“Oh, um, sure, I can give you a ride!  What brought this on?”

Sora laced his hands behind his head.  “It’s Roxas’s turn to drive, and I don’t want to deal with his music.  Or his driving.”

Riku laughed.  “You know, I don’t blame you!  Wanna get chicken nuggets or something?”

Sora grinned.  “You just don’t wanna go home.”

“I just want to spend more time with my friends,” Riku corrected without actually contradicting Sora.

“Are we going or not?” Kage growled, catching Riku’s and Sora’s attention once more.

“Right, we should go before my little brother kills us both.”

“Okay, give me like a minute.”  Sora turned, scanning the crowd for his brothers and eventually catching sight of Ventus.  “Ven! Hey, Ven!”   
  
Ven turned out the sound of his younger brother’s voice.  “What’s going on?”

“I’m getting a ride from Riku!”

“Aight, have fun!” Ven called in response.  “I’ll let Roxas know where you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Welcome back to Neither Of The Authors Know How To Be Serious" -Author Roxas
> 
> "I love the four seasons, summer, fall, winter, and *looks at smudged writing on hand* spreem" -Author Aqua


End file.
